Executive Suite (1954)

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After the head of a furniture manufacturing company dies from a stroke, six underlings vie for his position in this ensemble drama from director Robert Wise (The Haunting, West Side Story) and six-time Oscar nominated screenwriter Ernest Lehman (based on the novel by Cameron Hawley). William Holden (Sunset Boulevard, Network) leads the ensemble cast as the man who runs the factory floor and oversees the workers. He doesn’t want the top job until he realizes a bottom line bean counter (Fredric March) is the likely frontrunner. The entire second act of Executive Suite is a series of one-on-ones between the executives, their wives, and the daughter of the man who founded the company (Barbara Stanwyck) who’s looking to sell her stock in it.

Lehman’s writing is full of character twists and turns, trying to obfuscate who will ultimately be the victor. The film ends like a Frank Capra movie, as the executives and Stanwyck meet atop the company’s skyscraper to nominate and vote for a successor, while also expounding on the story’s themes of mechanical modernization, profits over pride, and the value of a workforce. William Holden gets a moment like Jimmy Stewart had in Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to take a dramatic, moral stand and does well with the opportunity.

I enjoyed the complexity of Lehman’s script and many of the performances here. Holden and Stanwyck are two of my favorite actors and they get ample screen time. We get a darker shade of Stanwyck with this character — depressed and on the verge of suicide after losing her lover, the deceased CEO. Walter Pidgeon (Mrs. Miniver) lends his commanding presence to the movie as the vice-president, while Louis Calhern adds a layer of smarm and notoriety as the executive who takes the CEO’s death as an opportunity for some insider trading. June Allyson is memorable as Holden’s concerned wife, and Nina Foch received the film’s only acting Oscar nomination as the executive secretary who coordinates everyone’s meetings and schedules. Foch does a lot with silent reaction shots in this movie, especially when she accidentally sets a voting pad and pencil in front of her dead boss’s chair.

While I predicted the outcome of Executive Suite pretty early on, I still enjoyed this ensemble sparring within the confines of a well-written script. At first it was hard to find a reason to invest in this movie — why do I care about the politics of a furniture company? But good writing and good performances can truly make you care about anything.

With Shelley Winters, Paul Douglas, and Dean Jagger. Trivia: This film was a major inspiration for Oliver Stone’s Wall Street.

Oscar Nominations: Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Supporting Actress (Nina Foch)